"Cinco de Mayo" is also marking its sesquicentennial

We are in the midst of a prolonged remembrance of the 150th anniversary of our Civil War. This Saturday Mexico celebrates the 150th anniversary of the event observed on "Cinco de Mayo." This coincidence is not accidental. The invading French army which was halted at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 represented a bold challenge not only to the elected government of President Benito Juarez but also to the principles of our Monroe Doctrine, a challenge which French Emperor Napoleon III doubtless felt safer making at a time when the U.S. was itself divided.
The French invaders, regrouped and reinforced, did advance and capture Mexico City a year later, and the conservatives they installed as Juarez fled did invite the Austrian Archduke Maximilian to come and set up a French backed Empire, but by then the North was well on the way to victory, and after Appomatox, Washington pressured Napoleon to withdraw his troops.The "phantom empire" collapsed and Maximilian paid the price. So Cinco de Mayo marks an important victory not only for a free Mexico but also for its friendly northern neighbor.